36 Indian pilgrims die in Nepal bus crash
16 July 2012 12:57 AM GMT
At least 36 Indians were among 40 people killed Sunday when an overcrowded bus carrying Hindu pilgrims from India to a temple in Nepal veered off the road and fell into a deep canal, authorities said.
The apparently overloaded bus plunged into an irrigation canal on the Gandak river, close to Parasi town near the India-Nepal border. Officials in Kathmandu and New Delhi said the bus was taking the pilgrims - mostly from Uttar Pradesh - to the Hindu pilgrimage site of Triveni, 100 km from Kathmandu. Police said the bus was carrying about 75 passengers and many of them were riding on its roof. Police superintendent Gyan Bikram Shah told reporters that the driver of the bus lost control on the road that was slippery because of rain. A statement from the external affairs ministry in Delhi said most of the Indian victims were from Maharajganj district of Uttar Pradesh and had gone to attend the Bolbum festival in Triveni.
Till late Sunday evening, 27 people were rescued alive. And of these, 10 were Indians. Officials feared that the death toll might go up.
The apparently overloaded bus plunged into an irrigation canal on the Gandak river, close to Parasi town near the India-Nepal border. Officials in Kathmandu and New Delhi said the bus was taking the pilgrims - mostly from Uttar Pradesh - to the Hindu pilgrimage site of Triveni, 100 km from Kathmandu. Police said the bus was carrying about 75 passengers and many of them were riding on its roof. Police superintendent Gyan Bikram Shah told reporters that the driver of the bus lost control on the road that was slippery because of rain. A statement from the external affairs ministry in Delhi said most of the Indian victims were from Maharajganj district of Uttar Pradesh and had gone to attend the Bolbum festival in Triveni.
Till late Sunday evening, 27 people were rescued alive. And of these, 10 were Indians. Officials feared that the death toll might go up.
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